PEOPLE who volunteer in hospitals or help care for the elderly should be rewarded for their “goodwill” by getting a £200 cut in their council tax bill a year, it is proposed today.

Three million people volunteer in one way or another to the NHS [GETTY]

NHS England boss Simon Stevens said plans put forward by the Local Government Association to give volunteers – including those who care for the elderly – a reduction in their council tax bill, should be extended to NHS volunteers.

He said the three million people who currently give up their time for free for the NHS were crucial in both health and social care.

“We support testing approaches like that [the LGA’s proposals], which could be extended to those who volunteer in hospitals and other parts of the NHS,” he said.

“The NHS can go further, accrediting volunteers and devising ways to help them become part of the extended NHS family, not as substitutes for, but as partners with our skilled employed staff.

“There’s a huge tapped and untapped reservoir of goodwill for the NHS across the country in communities the length and breadth of England.

"Three million people volunteer in one way or another.”

But he admitted: “The NHS has probably not been terribly good at harnessing that.

There’s a huge tapped and untapped reservoir of goodwill for the NHS across the country in communities the length and breadth of England

Simon Stevens

"So the thought is, how do we build on the goodwill that exists in hospital services and community services.”

The plans are set out in Five Year Forward View, published today by the NHS.

It states volunteers could be trained in “basic life support” to be “community first responders” in rural areas.

Yorkshire Ambulance has already recruited 1,000 people to be first on the scene when hard to reach patients fall ill.

Other suggestions include help to educate people in the management of long-term conditions and with vaccin­ation schemes.

They also propose to support carers when they face a crisis.

The LGA, which represents councils in England and Wales, has called on the government to provide money for local authorities to reward hard-working volunteers with council tax discounts.

This could include a 10 per cent cut in their council tax bill, worth up to £200 a year.

Volunteers, for example, could help in libraries, youth clubs or care for the elderly.

A spokesman said: “A community contribution discount would recognise the fantastic work volunteers do and could help save the public purse many millions more than it costs.”